


Treason

by early works (jennyraylen)



Series: Old Star Wars One Shots [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Gen, I was a young writer, One Shot, sorry about that, this is full of bad summaries rather than actual writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26186989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennyraylen/pseuds/early%20works
Summary: A stormtrooper learns the reality of his mission.
Series: Old Star Wars One Shots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1901638





	Treason

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted October 15, 2018.

Ian stood tall, chin high and eyes forward as he received his orders from his superior officers. He and several others had been called by Grand Moff Tarkin and a few of his colleagues to learn about their new assignment.

"Jenhu is a sparsely populated planet that resides in the outer rim. They have many resources that are critical for the Empire to attain. Our job is to negotiate with the people of Jenhu, and to supervise the mining of these raw materials until we have gathered a sufficient amount for the Emperor's needs." The Grand Moff paced in front of them, staring them each in the eye as he passed. The ship exited hyperspace just as he finished, and the small planet was in view.

"You are dismissed," Tarkin said, his voice pleased.

Ian marched out with the other Stormtroopers and officers which had been summoned to hear their assignment. They talked amongst themselves, speculating on what the planet of Jenhu woud be like. It had been red and blue, which either meant it was covered in a red desert and yet had large oceans, or that the foliage was largely red instead of green like on most planets. Ian bet on the latter with one of the other troopers, and when they landed on the planet, he was proven correct. The planet was covered with bright red trees and grass. It was exotic and a little hard on the eyes. Henji owed him his deserts for the next ten days. Ian grinned from behind his helmet as Henji grunted in annoyance.

The troopers and officers marched into a town nearby where they had landed, Tarkin in the lead. Tarkin asked the people where their leader lived, and they pointed to the largest building in the village, a tower across the town. Apparently, this was the capital on Jenhu, despite it being such a small town. _Tarkin wasn't kidding when he said this planet was sparsely populated,_ Ian thought.

***

Only three days later Tarkin was finished negotiating with the leader of Jenhu, and work began immediately to begin mining. The mines they needed had already been built but had been abandoned by the citizens of Jenhu years ago. This greatly decreased the work that was needed to begin mining for natural resources. Instead of building new mines, all that had to be done was a quick inspection to make sure the mines were safe.

Ian watched over the people Tarkin and the other high-ranking officers had chosen to work in the mines, a safety precaution should anything happen. As Ian watched the people walk past, he saw young children and women working alongside the men. He wrinkled his brow, unsure what to think of this. Surely, such people were not fit to work in a mine, yet Tarkin had chosen to conscript them. Perhaps they were volunteers, or they were criminals and this was their punishment. The pay wasn't great, but perhaps it was better than other lines of work on this planet. Ian shook away his doubts, satisfied with his explanations, and stood a little taller as the people trudged past him.

After the long workday, Ian took off his helmet as he entered the tent he shared with several other stormtroopers. "They say Jedi used to live here before they were destroyed by Darth Vader," Henji was telling the others as Ian entered. "I heard that we're mining Kyber crystals, the things that power a Jedi's lightsaber."

The men laughed. "The Jedi are a myth, Henji," one trooper said. "Along with the Force. What would the Empire need with some Jedi crystals anyway? Your story is total bogus."

Henji looked like he wanted to protest, but he never got the chance. The conversation had already moved on, everyone uninterested in his outrageous tale.

It was several weeks into mining that the first accident occurred. Part of the mine, further deep in than where Ian was patrolling, collapsed, forcing everyone out. Several people died, and no search parties were sent to search for survivors. Again, Ian had some lingering doubts. Many Jenhu citizens had been buried in the collapse, but there could be survivors deep in the mine. But Tarkin ordered the mining to continue uninterrupted, and the people obeyed, including Ian.

***

Ian felt his new assignment was beneath him, being a stormtrooper, but he had been commanded to be the errand boy for the time being, as the officer who used to fill that role had died in the mine collapse.

As he marched through the palace, now occupied by Tarkin and his underlings instead of the ruler of Jenhu, Ian passed an open door. Inside was a holo someone had left on. Ian walked in to turn off the holo--keeping it on was a huge waste of energy, and it was highly irresponsible of whoever had left it on. But before he clicked the off button, something displayed by the holo caught his eye. A circular space station was pictured, accompanied by words in Basic. Ian hesitated, reading the words of the holo before he could stop himself.

 _This weapon will have the power to destroy entire planets._ Ian staggered; the sheer amount of power that such a weapon would need was enormous--more than he could figure in his head. 

Ian shook his head, looking down at the card he held in his hand. He had an assignment and had only come in here to turn off the holo, not to read what had to be confidential information. But if this was true, and the Empire was creating a weapon that could destroy entire planets, what kind of people was he serving? Who would create such a weapon except to use it? Even using it on such a small planet as Jenhu would be monstrous! But if it was used on planets with billions of people, such as Alderaan, or even _Coruscant_ , would be unimaginably evil. Ian couldn't help but shiver under his hard, white armor.

And then, under the words he had just read, Ian saw what shook him to the bone. _Your assignment on Jenhu is to mine Kyber crystals, which will be used to power this ultimate Death Star._

Ian was helping these people create this weapon. Henji had been right about their assignment all along. Suddenly, his entire world seemed to shift. How had he not seen the evil of conscripting people to work in dangerous mines before? Why had he not realized the evil of the Empire long before? He couldn't work for these people any longer. Ian shut off the holo and walked out of the room before he could be caught reading it. He delivered his message and completed his assignments for the day. If he was going to desert, he had to act normal until he found an opportunity. It killed him to have to laugh and smile with the other troopers and to remain calm and respectful to his superior officers. On the inside, he raged against these evil people, even as he knew that only days before he had been doing the same thing. Heck, he was still doing the same thing!

And yet his anger for the Empire and all those associated with it would not die.

***

Weeks later, Ian was in the far reaches Jenhu, far away from any Imperial mines. He lived among the natives of the planet, who had received him with open arms despite all the atrocities he had been an accomplice to for many years. He was a stormtrooper. A high-ranking soldier in the Imperial army. He did not deserve their kind hospitality.

He hoped Tarkin would not miss his absence. But he feared they had already sent search parties after him, with terrible weapons to use them against these innocent people to get him back and bring him to justice for the terrible crime he had committed by deserting.

That's why he was building a ship, with the help of the Jenhu citizens. He would get far away from here, and he would lay low. Hopefully, the small yet growing Rebel Alliance he had heard about was more than just rumor, and they would defeat the Empire. Then he could live freely.

Until then, he was an enemy of the Empire and therefore a threat. For he had committed the unfathomable, unforgivable crime of treason.

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably one of my least favorites of my old Star Wars fics. As for fics in general? Well, I've written worse. Maybe I'll post those later. I hoped you enjoyed this anyway.


End file.
